County Investigator Talks Trespass Towing

If you’ve ever made a complaint to Montgomery County about your car getting towed, there’s a good chance Doug Numbers took the call.

Numbers is an investigator for the county’s Office of Consumer Protection who handles complaints about trespass towing, when tow truck drivers tow cars from private lots in front of businesses, shopping malls or other properties.

Often, those cases are examples of predatory towing, when a tow truck operator tows the car of a driver who briefly walks into a nearby store.

In the video above, Numbers lets a caller know this is not one of those cases.

The driver parked at the Connor Building (7720 Wisconsin Ave.), a favorite spot of tow truck drivers. With multiple signs announcing the building’s no walk-off policy, the driver who left her car in the lot before going to a restaurant nearby had little chance of getting her $168 back.